A Complicated Summer
by iMissMyKitten
Summary: A Story about a girl named Bella who moves to a new country and meets One Direction. She has an interesting summer with them filled with love, drama, and action.
1. Chapter 1

I tapped my thigh to the beat of a _Kings of Leon_ song that I was listening to on my iPod. I was staring out the window, watching my new home from 1200 feet up. We were descending quickly, landing in England. I sighed and felt someone tap my arm. I turned to my brother, Jake, who was motioning me to pull out an ear bud. A sickly sweet voice that belonged to one of the flight attendants had come over the intercom and was reporting the weather and amount of time left before our plane landed.

It only took us an hour to get off the plane, find our luggage, and step outside the airport. I was wearing dark washed rolled up jeans shorts that stopped well above my mid-thigh, fishnet tights and my combat boots. I pulled the hood of my gray sweatshirt up over my head and yelped, "It's beginning of June and I'm freezing. What the hell is this place?" I groaned to Jake. He rolled his eyes, "just find the driver, and let's get going." We soon spotted a tall man holding a sign that read LANDON is black marker. Our parents had told Jake and me that we would be packing up our lives and switching time zones from the City of Chicago in American to England. So, in their attempt to win us back, because we weren't so happy with this plan, they let us fly out alone two weeks early to familiarize ourselves with the city and make some friends on our own.

Moving at the beginning of the summer is either a really good thing, or a really bad thing. It could be good because I could meet some really cool people, and have an amazing summer, or I could not meet any friends and be alone all summer. It could really go either way.

After our driver dropped us off at our new house, and we had explored and put away our luggage, we decided to go check out the city. I pulled on leg warmers over my tights and a bulky scarf. I put on minimal makeup and my dirty blond hair was blow-dried straight and into a side pony tail with some strings hanging out. As we walked around the city I felt right at home. I stopped at a corner Starbucks and bought Jake a large coffee to try and lessen his moping. "On the bright side, British guys are so hot." I said falling into step with him, "which means British girls are so hot! You could meet the hottest girl ever here." I grinned at him.

"Oh, all British guys are _so hot_? What about that guy?" He motioned to a passing man in a large trench coat with a handle bar mustache and uni-brow. I narrowed my eyes at my brother and spun around, so I was walking backwards. "Maybe not him… but I can spot three cuties right now and none of them are even walking together." I caught the eye of one particularly cute guy who looked around my age, and he winked at me. I grinned back and twisted around so I was faced forward again. Over the course of the next three hours, Jake and I had walked all over and ended up in a quirky little music store. I had five C.D.s in my hand and was reaching over the table to grab another when someone bumped into me. I immediately fell over, knocking several boxes of C.D.s over along the way. Suddenly, two hands grabbed my waist and stopped me from dropping to the floor completely.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" A thick British accent asked me. I bent down to pick up the fallen C.D.s and responded "Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." The stranger bent down to help me and only then did I notice that he was the particularly cute guy I had seen earlier. "Oh!" Was all I could say.

"Oh hey! It's you!" he said, and started to smile. He pulled me up and stuck his hand out. "My names Harry and you are?"

"Hello! Um, I'm Bella." I smiled and shook his hand lightly. I looked down and noticed one of the C.D.s had snapped in two. He must have noticed my frown because he took the two pieces from my hand and said "Don't worry about it, I'll pay, and because I knocked into you, I should pay for your other purchases!" I started to protest but he cut me off. "Wow, these are pretty good, you have great taste in music."

"Those are for my brother, I was buying them to cheer him up." I saw his questioning look and I continued, "We just moved here, this morning actually, from Chicago, and he's not really sure if he likes it that much. That's him over there" I pointed to Jake who was across the store, talking to the owner about some guitar on the wall.

"I knew I heard an American accent, cute." Harry turned and walked up to the cash register, pulling out his wallet and handing over a few bills, "So, you guys should let me show you around, it's really not that bad. I promise. And it just got a lot better." He added looking me up and down. "Here, give me your number and I'll give you mine and we'll meet up, sound good?" I nodded and handed him my purple iPhone out of my purse and he plugged in his digits, and sent himself a quick text.

After saying goodbye to Harry I turned around quickly and rammed right into another person, luckily he grabbed my arms to catch me from falling. "_Seriously Bella? Two times in like twenty minutes, these people must think your drunk.." _I thought and rolled my eyes to myself. "So sorry!" I giggled and looked up into the deep brown eyes of a equally cute guy as Harry who was wearing a striped tee, and gray Toms. "_I was so right about the guys here.._"

"Its all good, babe. You alright?" I smiled and nodded and walked back over to Jake. He snorted. "You just completely embarrassed yourself in front of the first two people we meet here, way to go." He laughed as I shoved him out the door and we continued around the block.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning with sun shining right into my eyes, I was so not used to the time change. I turned to the clock on the wall and saw it was 3 in the afternoon, yikes. I got out of bed and looked at my phone, two new text messages: one from my mom saying to call her once we woke up and the other from Harry. I opened Harry's message and immediately smiled, "hey Bella, its Harry from the music store. Busy around 8?" I responded, "Hi Harry! I'm free, I'll text you my address." I waited for Jake to wake up to call my mother which took a couple hours, but by 6 I had chatted with her and my dad for a while and so had Jake. I threw together a salad and tossed a pizza in the oven for dinner and went to go take a shower.

When I got out the Simple Plan was playing on my iPod speakers and I was singing aloud. I put on a bra and black spandex shorts to walk around my room in. By the time I had my hair, and makeup done it was 7:30. I ran downstairs to eat a piece of pizza before Harry got here and just as I was walking out of the kitchen, the doorbell rang. I went to answer it, figuring it must be neighbors.

"Hey Bella!" A cheerful Harry smiled. "You look…" He trailed off and gave me an approving eyebrow raise. "_What..? OHMYGOD."_ I jumped back behind the door to hide my exposed body and I felt my face get red. "You can wait in here or out there, whatever, I'll be down in a second.." I sprinted up the stairs back into my room and screamed into a pillow. "_I just answered the door in my bra, ohmygod what is wrong with me?_" I thought to myself as I quickly pulled on a pair of dark jean shorts, brown knee high boots, and a long white tanktop with a couple chain necklaces. I had always had a unique sense of style, never really into what was 'in' but never 'out' of style. I liked little boutique shops or 'vintage' kind of things. When I walked back down the stairs, Harry was in deep conversation with Jake about something sports related. They heard me coming down the stairs and both looked over; Harry quickly stood up and smiled. "Hey" I said, a little out of breath, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah! Let's go!" He grinned at me, and I grabbed my brown over-the-shoulder purse and black cardigan and he grabbed my hand and pulled me outside. "So, I technically cannot drive, but don't fear! My friend is going to drop us off at a great spot, you'll love it." We walked towards the car parked next to my driveway and when he opened the door for me, I stopped. Sitting in the front seat was the _second _cute guy that I had bumped into in the music store. "_'Course all the hotties know eachother."_ I thought and said hello to him. "This is Louis, my best mate. He's going to drop us off, then pick us up and drive us over to our place. Sound good?" Harry introduced me. I mumbled something in response, still in awe that they were friends.

When we arrived, Harry opened the door for me and took my hand, leading me to a big black door which people had written all over in colored markers. He smiled before pulling me in. Music immediately pounded through my head and I felt the bass pumping through my body. We walked into the up-scale club which was packed with people of all ages. The ceilings were high and the tiles on the floor reflected off the blinking lights, making the whole room look like it was above a big disco ball. The tables on the sides had fake candles and the bartenders wore short brown wigs and bright red dresses. The male bartenders wore tuxedos with black sunglasses either covering their eyes or on top of their heads. Harry pulled me through the crowd into the back. We were stopped by what looked like a FBI agent before entering a back room, but one look at Harry and he led us through. "Wow, you know the right people, huh?" I smirked.

"You could say that." He laughed. The door closed behind us and we walked outside under a tunnel of leafs. Red roses lined the path way that led us to a secluded table off to the side. "Harry, this is beautiful..." I gasped. We sat down at the table and almost immediately, a waiter came out with two plates of salad and glasses of water.

"So, tell me all about yourself. I want to know all about Bella…uhh." Harry trailed off sipping his drink.

"Landon. Annabella Landon. Well, I'm a seventeen year old from Chicago, Illinois. Um, we moved here because of my dad's new job, and to be honest, I'm scared out of my mind for having a horrible summer." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "I mean, what if I don't find friends? I'll spend the whole summer alone, and that would really suck." He grinned and shouted "YOU'LL HAVE ME" and threw his hands up in the air.

After a delicious light dinner, he got up and said "part 2." I was about to ask him what part 2 was when he laced his fingers in mine and ran back into the club. More people were here now and Harry even stopped a few times to say hi to some friends. As we pushed our way though the crowds, people pointed and stared at us, some even took pictures. We made our way into the middle of the dance floor and danced for what seemed like hours. It was so much fun. During a particularly lively song I had my hands in the air and my eyes closed, until I felt Harrys hands on my face. I looked up at him and he smiled. "You're beautiful" He shouted over the music. I brought him closer and kissed him lightly, I peaked my eyes because a flash went off somewhere close and I saw a girl taking a photo on her phone of me and Harry. _"what the heck?" . _We danced some more and then we walked out of the club and collapsed on a bench outside. I shoved my balled up cardigan into my purse, "Ohmygod Harry that was so much fun. That place is amazing, I love it." "I knew you would" was all he said before Louis showed up and we were on our way to the boys house. I sent a quick text to Jake letting him know I might be out late and not to worry.

When we pulled up, Harry walked in first, then me, and Louis trailing both of us. AS I was walking in I slipped on the rug and Louis caught me from falling, "You are a clumsy one, aren't you Bella?" He whispered to me giving my waist a squeeze. I heard "hellos" being yelled out and I walked into a room and was greeted by 4 new faces. I was introduced to Zayn, Liam, and Niall who all gave me big hugs and their friend, Kat. We spent the evening playing games and I got to know everyone very well. I especially liked Louis, who was so sweet to me and Niall who acted as if we had been friends for a long time.

When I realized it was 1:30 in the morning, I asked Harry if he would take me home, and we jumped in the car with Louis and sped there. Harry walked me to the door. "I had a great time tonight. See? This isn't that had, and you've already made 6 new friends. You'll have a great summer if you keep hanging out with us!" He took my hand and kissed it and I whispered 'goodbye' as he walked away.

I feel asleep with dreams of an amazing summer ahead of me.


	3. Pool Party!

The next morning I woke up to a text that made me smile. "Hey babe, all day pool party starts at noon, ends late. You in? :)" Harry sent. I texted back quickly "yes! Pick me up!" and raced to get ready. By 11:30 I looked in the mirror, I was wearing a blue and white striped bandeau bikini with red ties and a black tshirt that ended an inch above my bellybutton, white shorts, and flip flops. I put my hair up in a high messy bun and applied little makeup. My nails were painted red and I had several diamond studs in each ear.

The boys picked me up and as soon as I stepped into their pool house a rush of chlorine hit me like a brick. I was so excited. The others were already messing around in the pool and after all my clothes were off I stood at the deep end, while everyone yelled at me to cannonball in. I was too busy laughing at Liam's comments I didn't notice Louis, who scooped me into his arms and threw me in. "AHHH" I screamed as I plummeted into the warm water, and came up laughing. "CANNON- BALLLLL" Lou shouted taking a running start and jumped in. I blocked myself from the splash and started kicking as he tickled my feet. I swam to the shallow end because I needed to take a minute to stop laughing. "Hey Bella! Come over here." Harry shouted from the hot tub and I danced my way over to the pop music that was blasting from their cabana. I sat in the bubbling water and sighed. "mmm" I mumbled and felt the water shift as Harry move over to me. "I like you a lot, Bella. You're fun." Harry said, twirling a piece of my hair. I opened my eyes and moved my body so I was sitting on his lap, that was the entire signal he needed because he pulled my head towards his and kissed me softly. I kissed back and giggled when he kissed my neck. I opened my eyes for a split second and during that I saw Louis watching us, watching me, his face was expressionless, and he made eye contact with me, not blinking. I swallowed and turned my back to Harry. I smiled back at Harry and kissed his nose. "You're a pretty cool kid too, Harry. I think I like you too." The rest of the day was a blast. We spent most of the day in the pool, doing chicken fights and just messing around. I was on Niall's shoulders against Kat on Liam and me and Niall won 3 out of 4 times. Then we dried off and went back inside to watch movies. I've always been a horror fan, even though they scare me half to death, so when Liam asked what movie we should watch I shouted "SCARY" and everyone laughed. Liam put in some old movie and I wasn't really paying attention. Harry kept nibbling at my neck and ear but for some reason I kept picturing the distant look on Louis's face from earlier. I noticed all the others had fallen asleep except Harry, Louis and I. I turned back to Harry and kissed him on the cheek before going to call Jake and let him know I would spend the night here and see him in the morning. He didn't answer so I left him a voicemail. "Hey Jake, it's me, Bella, I just wanted to let you know that I would be spending the night here, it's a little late to be coming home anyway. I'll be fine and I'll see you in the morning, night!" I pressed the END button on my phone and jumped when there was a clatter behind me.

"Just me!" Louis laughed and held his hands up in surrender, "I'm just making some hot chocolate, fancy some?"

"Mmm, that sounds great, I'll help." We poured way too many scoops of the hot chocolate powder into the jug of milk and shook it. Once we had heated it up, we both clinked out glasses, "cheers!" we said simultaneously and both took a big gulp—only to spit it back out into the sink. "oh god, why does that taste so bad?" I whisper shouted to Lou as I tried to scrape all traces of it off my tongue. "Ugh, I have no idea. Here use this." He pulled the extendable faucet off the sink and sprayed my mouth but missed by a few inches, instead soaking my whole face. "LOU!" I shouted while laughing. I grabbed the other handle and strayed him right back, and before long we were both soaked head to toe. "You goof. Can I borrow some clothes?" I giggled and poked him. I pulled the wet t shirt off my stomach and flapped it, trying to dry it.

"You can borrow some of mine." Harry said, appearing in the doorway of the kitchen. Louis jumped as if we were caught doing something wrong, but we hadn't been. We were only messing around. "C'mere." Harry held his hand out to lead me upstairs but instead I ran and jumped on his back. As Harry carried me down the hallway I kissed his neck and then stopped myself. "_You don't want to send the wrong signal. Stop." _I thought to myself annoyed. When we got to his room he dropped me on the bed and tossed me some boxers and a tshirt.

"Ooooh I'm gonna be sexy in this!" I said sarcastically as I held the oversized tshirt up to my body. "Harry walked over and pulled my waist towards his "You're always sexy." He whispered and kissed me. His hand moved from my waist, up, and was taking my wet shirt with it. "Harry." I said pushing his hands from my body, "Stop, I don't want to do that, okay?" "Whatever you want." He smiled sweetly.

I ended up sleeping in Harry's bed while he slept on the floor in the living room. I woke up a total of 3 times throughout the night because even though I was barely watching the scary movie, I was still freaked out. Harry must have heard me pacing back and forth because the third time I was up, he came into the room and held me in his arms for the rest of the night.


	4. Surprise!

The next day I was back at my house when my laptop _Ping_'d, signaling that I had a new email. I went to check and saw it was from my best friend, Laura. "Hey girl! How are the British treating you? I just sent you the cutest shirt ever that I found, so prepare to get it in… a few days? Weeks? I don't know how long packages take when they go overseas. Oh well. Can you call me? Or would that be really expensive? JUST EMAIL ME BACK SOON! Xoxo Laura" I smiled and emailed her back everything that I've been doing sense I got here. Satisfied, I went down stairs to find Jack pacing in the hallway. "Whats up?" I asked. He paused briefly and glanced at me, before returning back to pacing. "Mary is coming to our house." My jaw dropped. "MARY? WHY? OHMYGOD WHEN?" He rubbed his neck and sighed, "sometime today I guess…" I screamed and did a little dance into the kitchen. Mary was Jake's girlfriend. Now ex I guess. They dated for 2 years and when we moved, they decided to break up. The break up was really hard on Jake so I guess he was nervous about seeing her. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. Mary had been like an older sister to me, we were great friends and I hadn't seen her in months.

I waltzed around the kitchen and dropped a Pop-tart into the toaster when my cell phone went off. "Hello?" I sang into the phone when I picked it up. "Someone's in a good mood!" I heard Harry laugh on the other end. "Well yessir I am." I said sitting at the counter. "Well on that note, I would like to see you today! How does that sound?" I smiled, "It would sound great, if I wasn't awaiting a friend. What about tonight?" he sighed, "I can't tonight! Bell, I really wanted to see you today. Tomorrow for sure then?" "YES!"

I ate my Pop Tart while watching some cartoon and then I went to shower. As I was standing in my room I looked in my full- length mirror. I had on a sparkly bra and colorful underwear, and I pulled and pushed at my stomach. _You're strong. You're healthy. You're beautiful. _I repeated over and over before shutting my eyes and walking to my closet. I picked out a thin loose blue tank top dress that had black triangles everywhere. I paired it with ripped tights and my black combat boots, rolled down. I braided my hair to the side and had a black ribbon headband hold my hair back from my face, where my eyes were outlined in dark black eye liner and mascara. I checked my email again and saw that Laura had sent me a picture of her and her new boyfriend at the beach. They looked adorable together. I grabbed my phone and dialed Harry as I was walking down stairs. "Hi there Styles, how you holding up without me?" I heard his light laugh before he answered, "I admit, it's pretty rough. So who's this friend your waiting for? Any competition for me?" I smiled, he saw us as a couple already. "Not at all. She's my brothers old girlfriend, Mary, and I don't know how long she's visiting for but I've really missed her!" I heard him take a breath and was about to say something when the doorbell rang. "Ohmigod she's here gotta go call you later bye Harry!" I shouted and ran to the door. I threw open the door and on the other side stood a medium height brunette with curly hair half way down her back. She wore light wash skinny jeans and a simple white tshirt. Her green eyes sparkled as her face split into a grin. We both screamed and hugged each other, jumping up and down. "MAR!" I yelled and pulled her in the house. She dragged her big suitcase in and shook her shoulders. "I've missed you so much Bell! Like, honestly girl!" She laughed and hugged me again. I let her go and saw Jake leaning against the wall, watching us. As soon as he saw we were finished, he went over and they hugged for a while, mumbling things to each other. It was so sweet. I left them alone and went to go watch T.V. I texted Harry and told him that I had probably a good hour or two to kill before it was okay for me to go talk to Mary. He came by within the next 20 minutes and took me to a little hole in the wall coffee shop. I smiled as I sipped my latte and looked at him. I sat cross legged on the old chair and I placed my elbows on the table. "So," He started, "How was Mary?" I placed down my latte. "It was so great to see her. Jake was a bit awkward though, so when I go back I'll have to see how they're doing. You would like her, she's got a great personality." I shrugged and he grabbed my hand over the table and stared into my eyes. I saw a camera flash. _Okay, what?_ We talked until both of our cups were empty and then he walked me home. He hugged me goodbye and kissed my forehead, "have fun tonight!" I said and he squeezed my waist, making me squeal. "Don't know how I'll have fun without you."

I walked back inside my house and looked at the clock. It was around 5:30 so I called a restaurant down town and ordered some pasta for pick up. Just as I was hanging up I heard someone down stairs laugh. It wasn't Mary or Jake's laugh. I felt my stomach drop and I grabbed the thing closest to me, a wooden spoon. I slowly crept around the corner and tried to peer downstairs, but I couldn't see anything. I tip-toed down the carpeted stairs, cringing when one of them creaked. I slowly maneuvered around the corner and saw a head of spiky black hair. Some boy was sitting on the couch, back towards me. I cranked my head and tried to see their face while raising the spoon above my head. He suddenly spun around and I screamed and jumped back. "Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down!" He jumped up and put his hands out. "WHO ARE YOU?" I screeched at him, "I'm Mary's brother! I'm here with her! Your brother knows I'm here, him and Mar just went out for a walk!" I shook my head, confused, "You're…you're Mary's brother? Mary has never mentioned you. She wouldn't just not talk about you. We tell each other everything." I said, a little bit hurt. My emotion must have registered on my face because he quickly walked around the couch towards me, "no, no! I've been at boarding school for 8 years. My family, doesn't, um, talk about me much." He looked a bit ashamed. _Aw, damn. Now I feel bad. _"Oh. Well... sorry." I said and he motioned to the spoon in my hand. "How was that going to help you?" I shrugged before analyzing him. He tall, and wore slouchy jeans. He had on an un-tucked plaid button down which was unbuttoned on the top. His black hair accented his piercing green eyes, just like Mary's. He was pretty cute. "How old are you?" I asked, still cautious. "Seventeen." He answered, "Would you like to sit down?" I rolled my eyes. "This is my house." I said before turning on my heel and walking back up stairs. I left Jake a voicemail with lots of colorful words, telling him I was not happy that no one told me there was another person waiting at the house. I hid out in my room for a while until Jake and Mary came back. I grabbed Mary and we sat on my bed talking for hours. It was around 9 o'clock when Mary said, "well. It's almost time to go. Go get ready." She said with a sneaky smile. I tilted my head, "ready for what?" She grinned, "I'm taking you to a concert! So go get dressed your most concert-y outfit and let's go babe!" I didn't even have time to question the sudden plans before she pulled me up and over to my closet. We settled on ripped light wash skinny jeans, a long black tank top with a wish-catcher on it and my strappy tall orange heels. The tank top dipped low under my arm pits so I put a printed bandeau on over my bra. By 9:45, we were on our way. We just made it to our seats before the opening act begun. It was a teenager, probably a year or two younger than me and he was cute. In a Justin Bieber after the hair cut kind of way. His name was Jackson something and he repeatedly stared over into our section, pointing and blowing kisses to the girls around us. Mary and I danced to the beat and took pictures with some girls next to us who had funny signs that were for the headlining act. Once Jackson had moved off the stage I went out into the Lobby to buy a water and a drink for Mary, when a tall man in a suit tapped my shoulder. I looked over at him, and he smiled at me and said, "Hello Ms. My name is Alex and I work with Jackson. The act you just saw?" I nodded slowly and he continued, "During some concerts, Jackson takes notice to people in the crowd and wants to invite them backstage for a meet and greet, and you are one of those people." I just about choked on my water I was chugging. "Wait, what?" I sputtered. He repeated him self and asked me if I would like to go backstage to meet Jackson. I laughed, "Well if I do, I have to bring my friend, shes back at our seats." He nodded and said he would wait there. I jog-walked back to Mary and told her what had just happened. She screamed. Even though we had never heard of this kid before tonight, we would meet someone famous tonight. We grabbed our bags, said goodbye to our new friends, and went back out to meet Alex. He lead us to the back. "I've never been backstage anywhere before." I whispered to Mary as I gripped her arm. "Me EITHER!" Mary shouted, causing many people to look our way and I pushed her and laughed. Alex turned to us and told us it would be a few minutes until Jackson could come out, and asked if it was okay if we missed the beginning of the headliners. I nodded and Mary shrugged yes. We sat in two fold up chairs near the stage and popped our heads out the side, waving to the girls we met in our seats and they took our picture on the side of the stage. Suddenly, everyone backstage was running around and barking commands into their headsets. "oh boy, whats going on?" Mary asked. The lights started flashing on stage and spot lights hit 5 marks. And then out of no where, 5 boys arose into the lights and the crowd went wild. I couldn't hear a thing Mary was yelling to me. I smiled and started to nod my head to the beat when I really noticed one of the boys on stage. If I was a cartoon, my eyes would have popped right out of their sockets. Because that boy on stage, was Louis. And he was standing next to Niall. Who was standing next to Zayn. Who was standing next to..ohmygod. Before anything could register in my head I felt someone tug on my arm and I turned to see Mary pulling me into a room which Jackson was currently entering. _What did I just see?_


	5. What is going on?

I shook my head as I was pulled into the next room. I was seeing people. I had to be, right? My boyfriend could not be famous. That just… no, no that couldn't be. No. I tried hard to push those thoughts out of my head as we sat down on the couch across from Jackson. He was a 15 year old, too young, but damn cute. He was also a charmer, who kept hitting on me despite my multiple hints that I was not available. "So, Bella." He drug out my name and stared into my eyes, "What do you do for fun?" I grinned back at him, "I hang around my friends, my _boyfriend, _you know. Just normal stuff." He nodded, "Of course, of course. Well, have you ever toured backstage before?" I shook my head no and he continued, "Well then! I have to give you the grand tour!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. It was literarily like he didn't even see Mary. But as I looked over at her, I saw she was happily taking pictures with Jackson's cute, _older, _friend, and I was pulled out of the room. I kept trying to get another look on stage but Jackson was leading me in all directions except the one I wanted to go.

"Back here is my dressing room." He said proudly and I nodded, as if I cared. He pulled me in and shut the door. We sat on the couch, I sat on the far end and he just kept moving closer until our thighs were touching. "Bella…what a pretty name." He spoke slowly and quietly, while twirling a piece of my hair. He started to lean forward, just as the door to the dressing room opened. I looked up to see a big man in the doorway, looking horrified that he had just walked in on us. Suddenly, Jackson's lips were against mine and he pressed hard. For a 15 year old, he was a pretty good kisser, but I pushed him off and stood up in disgust. "I told you I had a boyfriend! What the hell?" I yelled before running out of the dressing room. I turned down a hallway which was dimly lit and I followed another and kept turning and turning. _Oh shit, shit, shit, you are lost. Find someone… oh god, where is Mary?_ I turned down one last hallway which lead to what looked like under a bunch of bleachers. There were lots of people running around and I tried three times to get someone to stop, and tell me how to get out. "Excuse me!" I shouted to a passing woman, who ignored me. "WHERE THE HELL AM I?" I screamed, which got the attention of 2 men talking quietly. One walked over to me, "Miss? Are you authorized to be down here?" He asked me. "I don't know, Jackson brought me somewhere and I'm just trying to find my friend and I don't know where she is and I don't know how to leave this maze—" I noticed I was breathing heavily. He put his hands on my shoulder "Just calm down, we'll get you back out to the arena and find your friend in no time." I started talking into his headset and within seconds, a woman appeared at his side, and led me back to where we started.

I looked around for Mary, and found her pacing frantically near the side of the stage on her cell phone. When she saw me she let out a big sigh of relief, and hugged me. "Jesus, Bell, I had no idea where you were. If I went back and said I lost you that would have caused World War III with the parents! Thank god your okay, you're safe?" She said and placed both her hands on my face. I pushed her off, laughing, "I'm fine, I'm fine. Let's just go, I'm ready to go home." She nodded, "I just need to grab my purse." She ran off into the room we started in, and I slowly moved towards the side of the stage, where we were previously seated. The headliners were still on, and I closed my eyes and counted to three before opening them and looking out on stage. But instead of seeing the backs of 5 boys, I stared right into Niall's eyes. "Bella?" He questioned. My jaw dropped, "Niall… It is you… ohmygod—"was all I could say before some stage hand passed him his guitar and he was back on stage. I stood in awe as I watched Niall whisper to Louis and then Zayn, who both turned around to look at me. Louis waved and Zayn gave me a funny face. I didn't respond at all. Then Liam turned to smile at me… then Harry turned around. We made eye contact and so many emotions ran through me in those two seconds. Hurt, for him not telling me about this part of his life. Excitement that it really was Harry. I didn't know what to feel. "Holy fuck." Was all I could say as I stared across the stage into Harry's eyes. Our contact was soon broken, when Zayn had to hit Harry to bring him back into the song. I felt faint. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to breathe slowly. "What's going on? Are you okay? Are you having a panic attack?" Mary ran up to me, and I shook my head no, and she led me out of the theater, back into her car, and for the entire hour car ride, I was a silent stone. Staring at my phone, which lit up every few seconds, with a new message or missed call from one of the boys.

I sat at my desk, with my head phones plugged into my computer and Googled Harry Styles. I felt like I was going to vomit when I saw the number of hits his name received. _Over 98 million hits. Ohmygod. _I spent hours going through videos, and new stories about the apparent band. _One Direction. _People wrote stories about them, like, fan fiction about them… MY BOYFRIEND. _This is insane. This is insane. This is insane. _Was all I could say, until I came across a teen celebrity site. I clicked on the Harry Styles tab and began scrolling. Picture after picture after…_wait, is that me? Oh my… that is ME. _I squinted at the photo of me and Harry in the coffee shop holding hands, and another right below of Harry and I kissing at the club, on our first date. I clicked the link that read 'Comments' and man, what a mistake that was. "Fake…ugly... slut… american trash…" I whispered as I scrolled through the comments. The insults just kept coming too, and getting worse and worse until I slapped my laptop shut and slid under my covers in my bed. After staring at the ceiling for a few hours, I cried myself to sleep, sobbing into my old pillows.


	6. I'm dating a rockstar

I woke up to crackling come from down stairs, and the smell of bacon traveling under my covers to meet my nose. I slowly arose from my bed, and the events from last night played back in my head. "Oh god..." I groaned, remembering. I pulled on a sweatshirt, and leggings and tied my hair up in a loose pony tail. When I looked in the mirror, I actually shuddered about how I looked. I had black marks and spots all down my face from my makeup running, my eyes were red and puffy and there was a mess of foundation on half of my face. I walked into the bathroom and splashed water on my face, not even bothering to wash it, before walking downstairs.

Mary and Jake were sitting on the couch together watching cartoons, her feet across his lap. Cute. I walked into the kitchen and saw Mary's brother at the stove cooking bacon. I never did get his name. I slowly sat in one of the chairs at the bar-counter and laid my head down. "Hey. What's your name?" I asked him. He turned around and looked surprised to see me, "Colin. And you're Bella." I nodded with little effort. He put down the spatula, and walked to the cupboard; he grabbed a tall cup and filled it with water. He then walked over to me and placed down the cup and 2 pills next to it. "Mary can get a little crazy at concerts." He said. I frowned at him, "I'm not hungover. Just tired." I snapped, but took the pills anyway. He shrugged and went back to cooking. I pulled my phone out of my sweatshirt pocket and clicked the center button, turning the screen on. "Ugh, nooooo" I said. Colin had walked up behind me and looked over my shoulder at the screen, "Wow, 62 missed calls, 27 voice mails and 142 new text messages. Look who's popular." He laughed before setting a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me, and sitting down next to me with his own plate.

"This is not good." I groaned, but bit into a piece of bacon. _Yum. _He took a sip of his water, "Want to talk about it?" He seems sincere. And I really did, but I had just met this kid… oh screw it. "Yes." Was all I said. I finished my plate and waited for him to be done before telling him every little thing. He was a good listener, providing prodding words when necessary, and sympathetic noises. Then he took out his laptop and did exactly what I had last night, except _he_ didn't cry. "Well you should call him. Soon." I looked at him questioningly, "I don't know what to say. Should I be mad? Because I don't even know if I am. Ugh, why is this so hard?" I rolled my eyes and Colin turned his laptop towards me, on the screen was a Twitter account. Harry's. The last 3 texts were sent last night, and one this morning. The first said "That was a concert to remember." The second said "relationships are difficult." And the third said "call me. Please." I bit my fingernail, "oh." I said quietly. I kept staring at the screen, when the doorbell rang. I made no movement to go get it, so Colin got up and went to answer the door. I heard him conversing with someone and in a few seconds, he was back standing next to me. He put his hand on my shoulder, and I knew who was at the door. I grabbed my phone and walked up stairs. I took my time, putting on a little makeup, changing into jeans and combat boots, but kept my sweatshirt on. When I was ready, I walked back down the stairs, one step at a time.

Harry was sitting where he had been the night of our first date, talking to Jake. He was nervously playing with his hands and looking down. When he saw me he stood up. Neither of us really made any expression towards each other, just silently walked out the door, down street after street, and finally to the hole in the wall coffee shop from before. We sat in a corner booth that was well hidden, and stared at each other. He looked nervous; I don't know how I looked.

"Look Bella, I really wanted to tell you, I just wanted to make sure that you liked me for me and not because of all that stuff before I did. I wasn't expecting you to find out this way and I really am sorry because I really want going to tell you I just, I mean I really like you and I don't want to lose you, I'm just…I'm so sorry for not telling you." He spit out in one breath. I raised my eyebrows and took a deep breath, "I guess I get that. But you should have told me, I mean, you were _headlining _for _thousands._ That's a huge part of your life and if were in a relationship, I need to know those things!" He nodded and I continued, "And I think I should be angry… like I feel like that would be the regular girl response? But…I'm not? I don't think? I mean, how can I be angry, I mean of course I can, but I just don't feel like its…I don't know." I rambled. His face lit up and he grabbed my hands, "I get it, I totally get it. And I can be on probation for life, if you want me to be. I promise to tell you anything else!" I squinted at him, "so is there anything else? Like, are you the incredible hulk or something?" He laughed and shook his head no. We spent the course of the next 2 hours talking about his career. He told me he had been on a show called the X Factor, and didn't win, but came close. After that, him and his band became insanely successful and were starting a U.S. tour soon then a Europe tour. The entire time he talked, my mouth was wide open. I couldn't believe anything I was hearing. This was all too amazing.

We walked out of the coffee shop and as we turned the corner, Harry grabbed my waist and pulled me close. I stopped him and kissed him lightly, "You are one special dude, Harry Styles." He smiled and kissed me back. A camera flash went off.

He walked me home and I sat on the couch, grinning from ear to ear. Colin walked into the room and leaned against the door frame, "So everything worked out, I assume?" He said, with a sneaky smile on his face. I nodded and grinned back at him, "You'd like him. He's…he's great." I said and clapped my hands. He raised his eyebrows, "then you'll have to formally introduce me. I nodded; Colin made a move towards me, but stopped when the doorbell rang. He answered it, again. I hear a loud laugh come from the door, and within seconds Niall and Louis were standing before me. "BELLA!" Louis shouted and tackled me back onto the couch. Niall came over and put his arms around me, pulling me into a tight hug. "Hi guys!" I giggled. "What are you doing here?"

"Were here to make sure you were okay! Last night was… surprising, and when you didn't answer any of our calls or texts, we needed to see you!" Niall cheered. "But you look happy! So that's fantastic." Louis continued. I grinned, "Yeah… um, I worked it out with Harry. I saw him this morning and we're fine. But you two!" I stopped and poked each of them, "You guys are not off the hook! I cannot believe you didn't feel like this was a necessary part of information to share!" Louis pretended he was shot in the heart, and he feel backwards, "We are sooooo sorry! We were stupid and I hope you forgive us!" Niall nodded along, "Yes, so sorry Bella! We'll honestly do anything!" I laughed, "it's fine, it's fine. But your not one hundred percent forgiven, so just watch yourselfs." I joked and squinted at them.

"Well, to make it up to you! We would like to take you out for some ice cream!" Louis shouted. I laughed, "Ice cream at 11 in the morning? Sounds good to me. Let me just go change into something cuter." I said hopping off the couch. Louis shouted after me, "But you already look cute!" I turned to laugh at him, and saw Niall hit him and give him a warning look. _Yikes, what's that about?_

I returned back downstairs in gray Toms, dark skinny jeans, and a brown shirt with fringe on the bottom that cut all the way passed my belly button. I braided my long hair to the side and liner my eyes with sparkly brown eye liner. When I got back downstairs Louis scooped me up in his arms and said, "we'll even carry you there." I batted at him with my purse until he let me down, only to have Niall give me a piggy back ride all the way there.

We walked around downtown and I got some weird stares for staying on Niall's back in a crowded city. Oh well. Louis led us to an old fashioned Sweet Shoppe and we sat in one of the red and white striped booths. "This place is adorable." I said and Niall stole a bite of my mint chip ice cream. "Hey! Haha, give me a bite of yours!" I laughed at him and he fed me a bit of his Rocky Road ice cream. A camera flash went off.

Before leaving, Louis bought me a lolli pop bigger then my head and I opened it on the way home. On Louis's back this time. They left me at my door, each giving me a squeeze and telling me again that they were sorry. God, I loved these boys.


	7. Story Time

That night, while I was sitting on the couch with Colin, I was playing with my laptop. Colin and I had been taking funny pictures on photo booth and I was uploading them to my Facebook. After I uploaded 22 of them, I got a couple comments from my friends back in Chicago. Laura said "oooh, is that your new beau?" And my friend Nick said "wow, you work fast with the boys over there. Jk." And Chelsea commented "Hottie! Introduce me to your new boyfriend!" I pushed the laptop onto Colin's lap, showing him the comments. "You weren't kidding when you said you were gone for 8 years, huh? Really no one knows you." He shrugged, "Boarding school was demanding." I turned so I was sitting cross legged facing him, "Why did you go? I mean, Mary didn't. Did your parents make you?" He sighed loudly, making it obvious he was getting annoyed by me, but I didn't care. "C'mon! Tell me what you did! I told you _everything!" _

He cracked his knuckles and stayed silent for a few moments. "When I was younger, I used to get in trouble a lot. I…I, um, I used to set…fires? And some of them would get…kind of out of hand, a little bit. So, my parents sent me off to boarding school, in California. And while I was there, I got hooked up with the wrong crowd. Started partying a lot…drinking…just, bad things. And I got caught a lot too. Eventually my parents pulled me out of that school, and brought me home for two weeks before sending me out to another school. This time in England. And there…I don't know, I guess I'm just attracted to the wrong type of people, you know?" he paused and laughed a little, "anyway I met a group of kids there, and it was a weird group. Half of them were like my friends from California, all hard core partiers. But the other half, were totally normal kids. They didn't drink, and they studied, and I don't have any clue how they all ended up friends but they did. So I would hang out with the partiers, and then if we ever did anything really bad, we would use the other half of the crowd as our alibi, and everyone was cool with it. So we never got caught. So my parents thought I had changed a lot, so this summer, they brought me home. And, like, two weeks into the summer…they saw I hadn't…I guess. So they stuck me with Mary and shipped me here." He looked down at his hands. I tilted my head towards him, "was it hard?" I asked softly. He looked up at me and his eyes sparkled, "What? Knowing your parents viewed you as a failure? Knowing your family didn't tell anyone about you, because they were ashamed? Moving from school after school after school _before I was even ten_? Yeah, I'd say it was hard. But I'm glad it happened, because otherwise I wouldn't be here, talking with you right now."

His eyes glimmered with tears and I reached over and hugged him, knocking him to the ground. We hit a bowl of popcorn which flipped, raining popcorn all over us. We laughed and laughed until I stopped. He kept laughing. When he was telling me his story, I could see how miserable and embarrassed he was, it was heartbreaking. But right now, in this moment, he looked content and cheerful. He noticed I stopped laughing, and stopped too. I was sprawled across him, our faces inches apart. He leaned forward, and kissed me lightly. We stayed pressed together for a few moments before I slid off him. I looked down at the ground. _What was I doing? Ohmygod, WHAT WAS I DOING? I was with Harry! And I'm happy with Harry! Ohmygod…ohmygod… _"Ohmygod that should _not_ have happened. Ohmygod." I quickly got up and stepped back from him; he jumped up too and put both his hands on the back of his head. I heard him muttering "fuck" over and over. I tried to get a look at his face, "Hey…are you alright, Colin?" I said slowly walking towards him, but once he saw me coming he jumped back a few feet, "NO! No, I always do this…I always screw things up for people… I—I don't mean to I just…I'm sorry." He looked up at me, "I'm sorry." Then he turned and ran up the stairs, into the guest bedroom and I heard the door slam shut. My jaw dropped, "Yikes." I whispered.

The next thing I did was call Kat. I asked her to meet me in a park near my house and she agreed. When she showed up, I was pacing back and forth by the swings. Kat and I weren't the closest of friends, but she was nice and I liked her. She showed up wearing light jeans, a blue zip up sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her head, and flip flops. She sat on the swings and watched me for a while. After a couple minutes of silence, I spun towards her, "I kissed another boy." I spit out, and waited for her reaction. She raised her eye brows questioningly, and waited for me to continue. "Well, I mean, I didn't kiss him, technically he kissed me, but still. And I need to tell Harry. I know I need to tell Harry I just don't want to mess things up after just this morning we fixed them." I sat on the swing next to her. She smiled a little bit, "Bella…sweetie. Harry is a pop sensation, he has girls kiss him all the time, but he pushes them off right away. If your kiss didn't have any feeling, on your part, behind it, you shouldn't be afraid to tell him." I took a deep breath and nodded.

The next morning, after a sleepless night, I told Harry, and we sat in silence for a while. We were in his house, sitting at the kitchen table, across from each other. His eye brows were knit together in concentration as he drummed his fingers lightly on the table. I was breathing hard, waiting for his response. He looked up at me, "so…it didn't mean anything? You don't want to dump me and race back to make out with that guy?" I gasped, "No! No a thousand times no, _you're _my boyfriend." He nodded and smiled at me. I breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm so sorry Harry. It won't happen again." He grinned again, and leaned over the table to hug me, "Now that we are all worked out," He placed a light kiss on me, "I would like to take you out."

Harry took me to the most tourist-y part of the city. And man, it was _packed_. People with fanny packs and sun visors were everywhere, holding hands of their children and kissing their girlfriends. We were walking down one street when we came across a huge crowd; Harry lifted me up to see what everyone was staring at. There was a man with a saxophone and two others with drums playing music. They were pretty good. Without warning, Harry made our way up to the front and put me down. He stepped out into the center, and held his hand out for me. I took it. He swung me into the center and within seconds we were old-fashioned swing dancing. The musicians took a liking to us, and sped up the tempo. The crowd took pictures. My feet constantly collided with Harry's, but to my surprise, when we ended and the musicians motioned for us to take a bow, the crowd broke into applause. I blushed and bowed again, before pulling Harry out of the center and down the sidewalk a bit.

Probably half the crowd followed. I looked around in confusion, "What—"was all I could say before my hand was torn from Harry's and I was pushed to the side. I looked back at the crowd of girls, mostly my age, a few a bit younger. They were all trying to take pictures of and with Harry. I laughed aloud, when one of the girls turned around and snapped a picture of me. She walked over to me, "So you're the girlfriend everyone's been hearing about." I bit my lip, "Apparently." She smiled, "And what was your name?" I looked at her red rain boots, "Cute boots. Bella Landon." I answered and she smiled thank you, "Well can I get a picture with you?" She asked cheerfully. I paused to make sure I heard her right before she grabbed me and took a picture of us on her iPhone. I glanced over at Harry, who was watching me, amused. I shrugged back. Soon, after everyone had got their picture with Harry, they moved to me. I hadn't smiled for pictures for so long in months. Then, the first girl asked if she could take a picture of me and Harry together. I walked over to him and he pulled my waist in, he kissed my cheek and I popped my foot, for good measure. I was laughing while they snapped away, and the girls in the crowd actually awh'd at us. Once it was over and me and Harry were walking away, he laced his fingers through mine, "That was interesting!" I laughed and he poked my stomach, "Well get used to it, Doll. Because you're going to have a lot of that coming your way soon."


	8. Traveling Home

Harry walked me up to the door, "Can I trust him with you all alone in the house?" I looked at him and pouted. He smiled, "Just kidding, just kidding!" I batted him a little bit and he kissed me on the cheek, "I'll call you tonight." I smiled and nodded before heading inside the door. I rammed right into Jake who was rushing up the stairs with a dress shirt and one tie on each shoulder. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down!" I called after him. He spun around but continued walking backwards, "Go listen to the answering machine. Now." I turned slowly, and confused I walked to the kitchen and hit the button to place back the messages.

"Kids!" My mother's voice rang through the room, "KIDS! … Are none of you there? Pick up if you are! … Okay, well listen up: Your cousin, Alice, was engaged and decided to have a spur of the moment wedding on _Saturday. _Did you hear that? Saturday! As in a few days from now. So, I need you to pack up nice wedding clothes and relax clothes, and a bathing suit and anything you want to bring home because you'll be staying here for the next week to say final goodbyes and everything. Your dad just emailed you the plane tickets and Colin and Mary are invited too of course, call me back when you get this. Oh! Your flight leaves tomorrow at 9:30 in the morning. Okay, call me, love you!" I rolled my eyes, Alice had always been a in the moment kind of girl, and this was typical. I shouted to Jake, "Did you already call back mom?" I got an agitated, "YES" back and I assumed everyone else in the house was packing, so I made my way up to my room.

I spent 4 hours trying on dresses. 4 hours. _I have nothing to wear for a wedding. Nothing. _I looked through the dresses in my closet, nothing even remotely formal enough. I have to go shopping! I looked at my clock on my bed side table, 7:26 it read. _Shoot, it might be too late._ I ran over to Mary's room and she had a found a dress, but it was the only one she had. I called Kat, who told me that she would be over in half an hour with all her dresses. I was starting too really like this girl!

Kat showed up around 8 with 4 big shopping bags. We went up to my room and she laid them out. My jaw dropped when I say my options, "Wow. Are you a secret celebrity too?" I joked and she smiled, "No, but being friends with One Direction? You go a lot of places." We spent the next too hours trying on the dresses. I ended up pick a flowy light blue halter dress. I was planning on wearing black pumps and curling my hair and tying it half back with big silvery earrings and extreme makeup. I thanked Kat and hugged her goodbye, when my phone started to ring.

"Hullo?" I said, my voice muffled by the sweatshirt I was pulling over my head. I heard a snicker, "Little busy over there?" I smiled upon hearing Harry's voice, "a little, I didn't tell you the news! Good and bad. Good: my cousin is getting married and we… are going to the wedding! Bad: She's getting married Saturday and we're flying back to Chicago tomorrow…" He gasped exaggeratedly, "NOO! You can't leave me!" I laughed and joked, "Then come with me." He paused, "Okay. Okay I will!" I paused mid-step, "huh?" He laughed and said, "I'll go! I don't think I could last a week without you anyways, and I've never been to Chicago!" I smiled, "You're amazing."

The next morning at 8 o'clock, Jake, Mary, Colin and I were moving towards our gate at the airport. All of us had suitcases, plane bags, pillows and blankets to carry so we were traveling very slowly. I lost grip of my suitcase and it slammed to the ground. I groaned before resituating everything. I wrapped my blanket around my tighter, pulled my plane bag farther up my shoulder, and put my pillow on my suitcase and then picked it up, I don't think anyone even noticed I dropped behind because no one slowed down, and I hurried to catch up before someone fell into step with me, a flash temporarily blinded me, "Whoa!" I called out and I saw Colin stop and wait for me. A girl, probably 15, was standing next to me, grinning. I looked at her and she squealed, "Aren't you Bella Landon? Harry Style's girlfriend? Is Harry coming? Where is he? Can I meet him? Can I get a picture with y—"She was cut off my Colin grabbing my arm and yanking me away, "ITS TOO EARLY." He called back to the stricken teen. I giggled and waved to her.

Within twenty minutes, the four of us were sitting in the corner of gate G16, awaiting our flight, our stuff spread everywhere. I stood and grabbed a few bucks out of my purse, "I'm going to get coffee…who wants what?" I asked the group. Mary said caramel latte and Jake said the same, and Colin got up to go with me. We walked in silence to the kart and waited patiently for our drinks, he shuffled his feet, "So where's Harry?" He asked me. I sat on the floor, "He's meeting us around 9." We continued to chat until we got our drinks and nothing was awkward.

At 9:15 they called out seats and I waited outside the plane and called Harry, I got voicemail. "HARRY! You're going to miss the plane if you don't hurry! Where are yo—" I stopped when I heard yelling, and like _yelling_ yelling not just some kid. There was a crowd coming this way. My jaw dropped when Zayn, Liam, Niall, Louis, and Harry, who pecked me on the lips before dashing in the doors, pushed past me. About 30 screaming girls were close behind so I jumped into the boarding hallway and security blocked off the door to only ticketed passengers. Harry was waiting for me at the end of the hall, "Sorry I'm late, and we had some problems with security." I stared at him, "forget to mention you were bringing 4 boys with you?" He squinted and cocked his head, "…I thought you wouldn't mind?" His smile softened and I smiled back and pushed him into the plane. Zayn, Louis, Niall and Liam all sat first class, Mary, Jake and Colin were all in a section, and me and Harry were across the row from them. I shut the window and pulled out my laptop, Harry and I spent 3 hours messing around on my laptop, and the remaining time, I slept on his shoulder.

When I woke up I opened the window, the ground was dry, and the sun was shining. Home. It took us twenty minutes to get off the plane, and we were all exhausted. My eyes were half open when I heard a scream, _"More fans? For real?" _I had just enough time to put down my pillow when I saw a medium height girl with black hair and purple streaks in it sprint towards me from the welcome section of the airport. "LAURA?" I yelled at her and dropped the remainder of my things to hug her. I saw Jake hugging a few of his friends and Mary and Colin even had some buds waiting there for them. The rest of the boys stood awkwardly behind us. I finished screaming and hugging Laura and my other friend, Hilary, when I started to scream again. I ran from my spot and jumped right into Brandon's arms. I spun me around and I wrapped my legs around him, "OhmyGOD I've missed you so much!" I yelled at him and he hugged me tighter. After we had all said our hellos, and introduced everyone to the boys (and no one was embarrassing, thank god) we distributed our bags among our friends and walked towards the parking lot.

Mary, Jake, Colin and their 4 friends rode in someone's car, and split from the rest of us. We walked up to Laura's shiny red 6-seater jeep and I laughed, "This is going to be interesting." Laura drove, Brandon sat in the front seat, Hilary on his lap and the rest of us piled in the back. Niall sat on Liam's lap and I sat on Harry's, it was very crowded, but we managed the half hour ride which was filled with stories of what I had been doing all summer and what my friends had been doing. We pulled into the gate that lead to my house and Harry craned his neck to get a better view of our…well mansion. I heard Niall whisper, "Whoa.." and Liam and Zayn shared a look of excitement. I turned to them and snapped to bring their attention back to me, "Kay, so this is my house. My parents are very tightly and clean, don't walk with shoes on unless they're in-door shoes, and don't run while their home. They don't know you're here so your going to stay here and I'm going to go say hi and then talk to them, k?" I instructed them. They started back at me and nodded. Laura slid to a stop and hopped out, shoving the keys in the back pocket of her tight jean shorts. Brandon lifted Hilary out, and held a hand out for me to easily jump off the side; I gave a quick wave to the boys, who stayed put.

Once the big brass doors were opened I breathed in a big whiff of home. I sighed, relaxed, and the dog that I had had for years, Milly, ran up to me and I bent down and kissed her. I shouted through the empty hallway "HELLO?" And within seconds I heard click clacking of heels coming from the left, my mother was on her way.

"Honey, honey, honey! C'mere!" She pulled me into a tight hug, "I've missed you so much! How was the flight? Boring?" I smiled and shook my head no before I felt two big arms lift me up and pull me back, "DAD!" I shouted and he hugged me, "We missed you!" He said and I grinned. My mother said hello to my friends, I have no idea where Jake and them went, and she invited them to stay for lunch, they politely declined but as they were walking out Brandon made eye contact with me and wiggled his thumbs, our signal for "_text you later". _Before sitting down I sent a quick text to Harry, "_This might be a few minutes…try to keep yourself busy. :)" _and turned my phone on silent.

Ten minutes and a salad later, I tried to bring up the boys, "So mom, theres actually something I want to talk to you abo—" She smiled and put her hand up, "Say no more! I already thought about your date to the wedding and I came up with the perfect choice!" The doorbell rang and she continued, "Malcolm." I started chocking on the piece of lettuce I had been chewing, "MALCOLM? Mom! I can't go with him—" I stopped myself when I saw Malcolm himself walking down the hallway and into the dining room, wearing a tailored suit. A suit. To lunch. He grinned when he saw me and jogged over to hug me hello and kiss my cheek, "Bell, I've missed you." He whispered in my ear and reached down to squeeze my butt, I jumped and pushed his hand away. Malcolm had been my first boyfriend, and since the 7th grade, he had had a thing for me. I admit, a few times I _maybe _hooked up with him, but no way. To the wedding? No way in hell.

I discreetly pushed Malcolm's body from mine and turned to my parents. I pushed my chair out from under the table and announced, "I have a date to the wedding, in fact, I have a _boyfriend_ to go to this wedding with, his name is Harry. And he and his 4 best friends are outside right now waiting to meet you." I turned to Malcolm who looked stunned, "If you'll excuse me." And walked down the hall and out to the porch where the boys sat. Niall had picked up a guitar that was just decoration and was strumming while Liam and Zayn sang some song I didn't know, Louis and Harry were sitting in wicker rocking chairs and I walked over and plopped onto Harry's lap, and gave him a big kiss.


	9. A night to remember

Let's put it this way, my mother was not happy that I had invite 5 boys into our house without her permission. My dad, on the other hand, was thrilled he was meeting celebrities. He kept them busy with questions about their career in one room while my mother screamed at me in another.

Once she was done I walked down the stairs and into the entryway. Malcolm was leaned up against the doorframe, waiting for me. "Well Bells. I didn't know you to be the cheating type, but I guess I can work with it." He tried to goose me again but I slapped his hand. I lowered my voice and hissed at him, "Hands off, perv. We are not together and we will never be. Get over it." I glared at him before spinning on my heel and walking out the back door. My dad was showing the boys around our backyard. The pool, hot tub, green house, trampoline, cabana, and patio and man made quarry we shared with the neighbors. Harry saw me and walked towards me with his eyes big and his mouth wide open, "Bella what is all this? Your house is AMAZING!" I laughed. "Thanks! You guys get to spend the next few days here!" He did a happy dance and walked back over to my dad. I put my feet in the pool water and called Brandon, he picked up on the second ring, "What's up, babe?" I grinned, "Well, moms majorly pissed about it, so chances are she'll be out of the house in two or three hours, and won't be back till…morning at the earliest. So what do you want to do?" I could basically see Brandon fist pumping the air, "I'd say a proper Welcoming Back party is in order for you. Leave it all to me." And he hung up. When my mom gets angry she takes my dad and goes for a spa day.

I was right. My mother and my dad had taken a car and left for the night. As soon as they were past the gate, I squealed and ran into the living room where the boys sat. I stood in front of them, "Get ready, _British boys_, because you are about to experience a real life American party done _right_!" Niall shouted, "YEAH BUDDY!" and Zayn clapped his hands. Liam grinned and Louis high-five'd Harry. I invited Laura over to get ready with me. Mac Miller blarred through the entire house and in 6 different rooms upstairs, we were all getting ready. At 10, we were all downstairs, in the kitchen. I was wearing dark jeans short shorts and a gray beaded tank top. Underneath I had on a neon orange bikini and my long hair fell in beach waves. The boys were all decked out in their own style, with a few twists. Harry had ditched the blazer, and wore black dotted swim trunks and a white t-shirt. He looked hot as hell. I gripped his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss. He smiled, "I'm excited." He whispered.

By 11:30, the party was in full swing. Teenagers were scattered everywhere though out my house. I just made sure to lock my room, my parents, and Jake's bedroom before the party started but everything else was fair game. Zayn was DJ'ing in the cabana and had probably 5 or 6 girls flirting straight up with him. Hillary and Niall were dancing near the pool. Louis was jumping off the top of the cabana and flipping into the pool, impressing many. Liam had his arm around some girl and was leading her into the green house. Cute. Harry and I sat in the hot tub, kissing and laughing. I took a swig of my beer and started dancing to the music. Brandon came over and sat with his feet in the water, and lay on his back. "ARE YOU HIGH?" I shouted at him and laughed when he nodded. He sat up, "Your friend Louis really knows how to party." Implying that Louis was high too, this I had to see.

Around 2 things got difficult. People had started smoking in the green house, idiots, and I had to kick a few out. And then, when Zayn was blending me a drink, Malcolm showed up with two girls on his arms. He walked over to me, and stood there smugly. I snorted as I sat on the stool, "Who are they?" I asked him and he slowly smiled, "My new girls. This is Aly and Maria." Aly and Maria looked at me with disgust. I'm guessing Malcolm shared our history with them. I rolled my eyes and spun around back to Zayn who was looking at the photos tacked up in the back of the cabana, "So won't your neighbors get angry with all the noise?" I laughed, "My nearest neighbors are miles to the side or across the quarry, trust me, they don't mind."

Hilary and Niall came up behind me and Hilary squeezed my sides making me jump, "Whoa!" She laughed, "Calm your shit, girl!" Hilary was a ballerina, and from the outside she played the part perfectly. She had a tiny body and pin straight blond hair, but I swear, she swore like a sailor, and I could tell Niall loved it. He put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder, she kissed his cheek, "Brandon found some kids smoking over by the quarry, and now their swimming in it. C'mon, lets go." I told them I would meet them there and went to find Harry.

I found him and Louis dancing on the patio. Louis spun in circles and was waving his arms out when he saw me a lazy smile formed on his lips, "Bella…great party." I grinned and hugged him, "Thanks Lou." I looked over at Harry who was laughing at us and he pulled me in for a kiss. I grabbed his and Lou's hands and pulled them down the stairs, "Let's go swim."

When we got down to the Quarry, which was like a small man made lake, we saw that we were far from the first ones there. I could see people jumping from the swimming dock in the center and couples lay on surf boards. We joined Liam and the girl he was with, Kendall, sitting on the beach. One look at Liam and I saw he was completely sober, or held his liquor really well, and one look at Kendall told me she was this close to passing out from being so drunk. They laid on the beach, her head resting on his chest and stared at the stars. I heard Liam whispering compliments into her ear and every so often she would whisper a thank you.

Louis took his shirt off and grabbed one of the rafts. He pushed himself off the land and relaxed in the inter-tube, floating out. Harry walked me over to a hidden part of the beach and we both sat with our feet in the water. He held my hand.

"So I don't get it. Your mom is really, no offense, uptight. Your dad is normal I guess, and you are the most easy going person I know. How did you become like that when your family is so different?" I swirled my toes in the dark water before answering, "My parents haven't been around much sense I was little. When I was really young, I would rebel and go through nanny after nanny after nanny. Both me and Jake would. But I saw that that wasn't changing my parents view on me at all, if anything it was making it worse. So when I was like ten I stopped. And I mainly just stopped caring. I became the weird girl at school who didn't talk much except to her friends. But I had great, amazing supportive friends. And once we started to throw parties I guess I got back in the social line up. But the only reason I'll be going to college, is because of who my parents are. My grades are shit and I've barely worked a day in my life. I also think that I just didn't want to be like them at all…because, I mean, I _hated_ them when I was younger, like with a passion. And I couldn't ever imagine treating my child the way they did, so I became the opposite." Harry smiled at me, "Well I love who you are. I love everything about you." He pushed the hair from my face, "I love you, Annabell." I smiled and felt my heart beat loudly, "I love you too, Harry." He kissed me and I laid back on the dock and we continued to kiss. Harry stopped for a moment, "I want to make love to you." I answered him with a deep kiss that just progressed.


	10. The Wedding

Laura carefully applied the Sugar Honey lipstick and held out a tissue for me to wipe off any remains. She started on my blush and my eyes flickered over to Mary who was straightening Jake's tie for him. She smiled at me and then whispered something to him, before giving him a hug. Laura finished my makeup and I put on my blue dress from Kat.

Hilary curled my hair down my back and then gave me a hug, "Have fun!" She said before walking out. By 4:30 a.m. Jake, Colin, Mary and I were sitting in the back of my father's range rover driving to Alice's friend's beach house. Alice insisted on having a sun_rise _wedding, so here we are. The hour car ride was silent and every few minutes, one of the kids would fall asleep and the others would push them awake. The other boys weren't invited to the wedding because they were so last minute, but they were coming to the reception afterwards.

When we arrived, it was anything but quiet. My Aunt came rushing out to greet us and when she saw me she bee lined, "Alice is having a mood and specifically asked for you so go now we have exactly…" she check her watch, "49 minutes until show time." She hugged the rest of my family and I held the skirt of my dress so I wouldn't fall and ran up the wooden steps and in the rickety paint chipped door. Caterers in white aprons rushed past me and the wedding planar in a pale pink pant suit followed close behind. I heard wailing and followed it upstairs into a big open room. Two doors were open to the balcony outside and I could just make out the priest and helpers setting up chairs and an alter near the roaring water. Alice was sitting in front of the mirror in a strapless bra and panties with her hands on her face, tears streaming down. I walked over to her and she collapsed into me, "Al, honey, what's wrong?" I heard Mary walk into the room and sit next to us. Alice spoke between sobs, "I…have…a…PIMPLE!" She screeched and Mary and I put on exaggerated expressions and screamed, so she knew we were kidding. I moved her hands from her face and searched it, "What, where?" I asked and she pointed to her chin were a tiny little speck sat on the rest of her clear porcelain face. "Alice that's actually nothing at all. And we can fix it right up with…" I leaned over her and grabbed the tube of cover-up, "this." She turned to the mirror and slowly applied the cover up, when she saw the pimple was invisible again, she grabbed a towel sitting next to her, dried her face and hugged us.

Just then, a prep crew walked in and Mary and I were ushered out of the room for the Bride to get ready. We sat on a bench on the back porch and watched the dark water rush in and back out again, I texted Harry, not expecting a response.

Bella: "hey babe. Hope you're having fun sleeping in."

Harry: "I'm not sleeping in, I miss you too much."

Bella: "I miss you too. But I'll see you in a couple of hours. Remember to pick up everyone's suits."

Harry: "Yeah yeah, _mom. _;) "

Bella: "Oh whatever, ill text you later 3"

Harry: "Have fun 3"

Don, the groom, poked his head out of the door and called in Jake and Alec, his best man, to help him get ready. I looked down at my glittery purple nail polish that matched my toes. It also caused the sparkles in my sandals to pop.

30 minutes later, I watched two of the happiest people on earth say I Do. I watched Alice melt in her shoes as Marc read his vows and when she read hers, there were tears in Marc's eyes. They were truly head over heels in love. The sun had just fully popped over the water when the two kissed. It was magical.

After, everyone took the wedding photos on the beach. Marc and Alice even took a few in the water of him holding her up in foot deep water. Colin and I were going to wade out into the water but my mother stopped his, claiming out clothes couldn't take it, but I grabbed his arm and yanked him out any way. The photographer took pictures of me on his back, in his arms and just side by side.

Once the pictures were taken, we all drove to La Delux Hotel where the reception was being held. We would wait there for hours until everyone arrived, and finally the newly weds and then we would party together but until then, we had time to kill. The boys were already waiting at the hotel when we arrived. Jake, Colin, Mary, and I led them to our favorite place in the whole City: The Bean. The boys crowded around the big metal stature giggling and snapping photos on their phones. Harry pulled me over to him, "You look beautiful" he whispered and I wiggled his bow tie, "and you look dashing." He kissed me softly and I opened my eyes to 3 teenage girls taking photos of us. I smiled and pulled away from Harry. One of the girls approached us, "Are…hahah…are you Harry Styles?" she asked nervously. Harry grinned, "I am!" The girls eyes widened and I actually saw her knees buckle before she ran over and hugged Harry. One of her friends screamed when she saw Zayn round the corner and the other sprinted around the other side of the bean in search for more of the band.

Mary, Colin, Jake, and I all moved over to the picnic tables that faced the bean and watched the chaos. Around thirty teens, girls and boys, crowded the boys for pictures and autographs. I turned to see Colin staring at me, "what?" I asked.

He smiled warily, "You really love him, don't you?" The question took me by surprise. "I'm not being a jerk about it, I saw the way you two looked at each other over there… and I can see it." I smiled and pulled him into a hug.

When enough of the fans left, we called the guys over to us and ventured back through the park. We crossed the big green yard that belongs to the theater and made our way to the feet pools. This early in the morning, there weren't many people there so we all sat in a line, our feet wading in the cool water stream. Harry grabbed my hand and kissed it, "How was the wedding?"

"Amazing. Alice and Don…they really really love each other. The way they looked at each other was just amazing. And Alice was _breathtaking_ in her dress. And as much as I hated the idea, a sunrise wedding is really romantic." Harry laughed.

"You'll love you're wedding just as much as you loved Alice's. Promise."

I stared into Harry's big brown eyes and watched his mouth twitch. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to focus on something else. The DJ behind me swayed while singing Whitney Houston's _I Wanna Dance With Somebody_. I turned quickly and saw Alice laughing with Don on the dance floor. I turned back to Harry who was spitting the yellow lemon peel out onto the table. I spit mine into a napkin, "HA! Beat you, sucker." I raised my hands, victorious.

He waved me off, "We'll go again later. I don't know how you kept yours in that long, but I'll crush you next time." He poked my ribs and pulled me up. Spinning, we made our way to the dance floor. He grabbed my hand and put one hand on my waist, shuffling to the beat we sang along to the song. I saw Mary dancing with my 8 year old cousin and Colin dancing with my grandmother. I gave him thumbs up and mouthed, "Ow OWW!" and he responded with his middle finger. Liam was dancing with my 13 year old cousin, Carly, and Zayn and Niall were dancing with each other. I kept looking for Louis, until I spotted him dancing with one of Don's sisters.

The song ended and we made our way back to our seats as the toasts started. Alice and Don held hands at the long table up front and I made my way to the mic, Jake and I were the last toast to be made. I positioned myself in front of the tall microphone and looked at Alice.

"Hi, everyone. I'm Bella, Alice's cousin. I've been extremely close with Alice…since I was about 9? And she was 16. We haven't always had that much in common, but I can without a doubt say that she's been my best friend for the past 8 years and I don't really know what I'm going to do without her." I felt tears in my eyes and I smiled, trying to wipe them away, "All I'm saying is be prepared to be seein' a lot of me, Don." The crowd laughed and I grinned at him, "I'm so happy for you Al, Don is a great guy and he's perfect for you. You'll be welcomed into the family with open arms, Don." I stepped away and let Jake take the mic, but before he started speaking I ran up to the table and gave Alice a tight hug. The crowd Aw'd. "I'm going to miss you baby. I love you so much." I mumbled into her and she responded, "I love you too, beautiful."

After all the toasts were finished and cake was served, people started to fill the dance floor again. Just as Brown Eyed Girl started playing Harry hopped up, "I LOVE THIS SONG! LET"S GO!" I tried to pull my hand, but I stayed in my seat. I opened my eyes wide to him and he realized what I meant, "But I would love it more if it was _blue_ eyes girls." I laughed and he pulled me up, twisting me to the dance floor.


End file.
